Mozambique: Mavalane centre for Covid-19 patients almost ready

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Mozambique: Mavalane centre for Covid-19 patients almost ready

6:37 CAT | 17 Feb 2021

Photo: O País

The largest isolation centre in Maputo city for patients seriously ill with the Covid-19 respiratory disease will open shortly in the Mavalane General Hospital, the Secretary of State for the city, Sheila Afonso, assured reporters on Tuesday.

All that is still missing, she said, is to connect the oxygen tank to the bed to provide the patients with a steady supply of oxygen.

The oxygen tank was offered by the government of Angola, and arrived on board an Angolan air force cargo plane on Monday. The tank weighs 16 tonnes and can supply oxygen to 200 beds.

“Our projection is that in the coming days the isolation centre will be operational”, Afonso told the independent television station STV. Most of the infrastructure for the centre is already in place. The oxygen tank must now be installed, ensuring that oxygen points are linked to the beds.

Also read: Mozambique | A tent for about 200 Covid-19 beds will be set up: Minister visits works at Mavalane hospital – photos

The Centre at the Mavalane Hospital will relieve the pressure on the Polana Canico hospital which up until now has been the main health unit dealing with Covid-19 patients. According to the Ministry of Health, there are now 234 patients in isolation wards in the capital, most of whom require oxygen therapy.

Afonso also recognised that overcrowded buses and minibuses can spread Covid-19. She promised that work is under way to acquire a further 100 buses to boost the availability of public transport in the Greater Maputo Metropolitan Area.

She said that her office, plus the Maputo Metropolitan Agency, representing the Maputo municipality, and the Ministry of Transport, “are guaranteeing this number of buses, because we are aware of the lack of transport. We have to ensure compliance with the measures to prevent Covid-19, particularly respect for the limits on the number of passengers that buses can carry”.

As for the torrential rains that have struck Maputo over the past week, Afonso said that at least 785 households have been affected in various parts of the city. Their homes have been swamped, and in several neighbourhoods, suffering from chronic drainage problems, residents have to wade through water up to their knees to reach their homes.

Afonso admitted that these people may have to be moved. “The last resort for us in Maputo”, she said, “is to put people in transit centres, which have already been identified in some schools”.

Source: AIM